


The Depths A Man Will Go

by ThefirstRanger



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Kaldur-centric, Undercover, Young Justice Season 2, Young Justice: Alienated, Young Justice: Invasion - Freeform, inner thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21518365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThefirstRanger/pseuds/ThefirstRanger
Summary: During his time undercover, Kaldur had a lot of thoughts and emotions running through his head. These culminate when he has to fight his friends for the first time as Black Manta."As soon as the men in sector three had failed to report in, he knew that he would face off against his friends that night. His father's men were too well trained not to report back in. Kaldur had tried to put off facing his friends and former team as long as possible. He knew that it would have to happen sooner rather than later, it was already suspicious enough as it is that he hadn't faced them yet."
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	The Depths A Man Will Go

**Author's Note:**

> All the dialogue comes from the Young Justice season 2 epsiode Alienated. All the rest is me!

As soon as the men in sector three had failed to report in, he knew that he would face off against his friends that night. His father's men were too well trained not to report back in. Kaldur had tried to put off facing his friends and former team as long as possible. He knew that it would have to happen sooner rather than later, it was already suspicious enough as it is that he hadn't faced them yet. Black Manta, it was hard to refer to him as father mentally, hadn't approached Kaldur about it yet, but the lack of confrontation was starting to look more suspicious rather than strategic. Kaldur was aware that the team most likely knew he was a traitor already, but time wouldn't lessen the fury they certainly felt. That fury and betrayal was only going to get worse as time goes on, he thought to himself sadly. This fight was inevitable and it was happening today. 

Kaldur put on his Black Manta helmet. The better to conceal his features at first as he didn't quite trust himself to keep a hate filled glare on his face. He took a deep breath and walked out onto the bridge, his mask firmly in place. He looked down into the water and immediately saw the camera in the water. Taking a couple more steps towards the Krolotean ship, Kaldur spotted Nightwing and Batgirl and murmured over the com set while blasting at the water. "Intruders. Upper levels and in the water." 

The camera was definitely a Team move, and was almost definitely manned by Lagoon Boy. Kaldur made a mental note to tell Nightwing to change the team's tactics in the future. It wasn't good for anyone really if Kaldur was pressured into giving up even more of the team's tactics for the Light to exploit. 

Outside of Kaldur's thoughts, the battle was heating up. The Bat clan had already taken out some of his henchmen, King Orin and La'gaan were jumping out of the water while they were being shot at, and now the Kroloteans were mobilizing in their spider mechs against Superman. It was only matter of time before Kaldur had to join and battle the heroes. He saw his king and La'gaan and painfully made his way over to them. Did they know the man in the suit was him? Or did they think he was his father? Kaldur didn't know which option was worse. 

La'gaan had just destroyed a mech, not unlike Superboy would have. It seemed like there were more similarities between the two than they wanted to admit from what Kaldur had seen. None of those thoughts now, he chastised himself. The less he thought about his friends, the easier it would be to hurt them verbally here and besides, he had to focus on the battle right now. It would be too suspicious for him not to engage his "former" king, what with the apparent betrayal. 

Right in the middle of these thoughts, Kaldur saw King Orin jump at him with uncharacteristic ferocity. Did Orin know who was truly under the mask or did Orin believe it was Black Manta, his nemesis. If Orin knew that it was Kaldur under the dark helmet, did that mean his king despised him? No, he refused to believe that. Some small vestige of hope in him still believed, no yearned, that he would come out of this debacle forgiven. That he would swim freely in the waters once this was over, however unlikely that hope may be. King Orin swung at him, but Kaldur dodged and blasted his king in the shoulder. A shoulder injury was good, not a fatal injury but it looked like he was trying to hurt his former king. Aquaman fell to the ground, but Kaldur knew that he would survive. It hurt so much having to keep the appearance of hating King Orin and Atlantis. And actually striking his supposed former king might as well have actually struck Kaldur too for all the pain he felt. The loyalty he felt to King Orin could never be replaced. And physically striking his liege was treason. Kaldur knew starting this risky, terrible plan was practically inviting his banishment and charge of treason, but he knew that sacrifices had to made for the safety of the world, no matter how high the cost was. 

He could not think of those thoughts now in battle. The team and the League were in perfect form tonight, incapacitating the Kroloteans with ease. A far cry from the first mission where the League had berated them. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl were smashing Krolotean mechs. It gave Kaldur a small bit of joy when he saw Superboy and Superman working together. Kaldur had seen the impact Superman's distance had on Conner and he was glad that the two Kryptonians had reconciled even further. 

Desperate to end the failed mission, Kaldur opened up a private com link. "Manta to Partner. The base has been infiltrated. Abort operation." Please let the mission end without a confrontation thought Kaldur. A quick reply crackled back. "Partner to Manta. The device has already been primed. You have five minutes. Get your men out. The bomb will take care of the rest." 

So long to the wish of no confrontation. He muttered back tersely. "Perfect." A bomb would severely impede on his plans, not to mention put the team and the league in danger. He wryly noted that the Partner had neglected to mention what would happen to the Kroloteans and that the bomb was in place before the mission went south. Unfortunately, Kaldur wasn't in a position to help the aliens. He had an idea of what would happen to them and that would weigh heavily in his mind later. These were the choices that had to be made. 

Over the radio, he barked "Manta to all troopers. Endgame enabled. Strategic retreat to Manta flyer. You have four minutes." He could at least save the troopers, the league, and the team. Hopefully Kaldur would have the opportunity to debrief Nightwing before they both had to leave, but that train of thought was interrupted by the sight of La'gaan rushing toward him. 

Suddenly, he saw black as he fell to the ground. Someone, probably King Orin, had hit the side of Kaldur's helmet and knocked it off and him down. Steeling his features for the now inevitable confrontation of his former teammates and mentor, Kaldur looked up with a scowl of hatred on his face. The face of a traitor. The pain and shock on their faces was almost too much for Kaldur to bear. 

After a pause, Aquaman murmured "I had not believed Nightwing until this moment." in his low timber and it nearly broke Kaldur's heart. His scowl nearly slipped. He had committed several major crimes but King Orin had still held on to hope that his protégée wasn't a criminal. 

Stop, he reprimanded himself. You have to sell this act. "You did not want to believe." spat Kaldur. 

At this point, Superboy joined the confrontation. Kaldur almost could not keep going. Out of the whole team, he figured Superboy would be hit the hardest by his betrayal. He had been the first person Conner had opened up to and was certainly the first figure of authority that Superboy followed and trusted. The betrayal would have hurt him deeply. "None of us wanted to believe this. How could you betray us?” said Superboy, angry yet imploringly like he expected Kaldur to stop his crusade and come back despite the crimes he committed. 

The camaraderie and confusion in Conner's voice pierced Kaldur in his soul. He had argued for telling Conner and M'gann about his deception, but Nightwing, acting more and more like Batman, had vetoed telling anymore people than absolutely necessary. Kaldur had to hurt them to sell this act. The more he hurt them, the more trust he would earn. There were things he could say pulled from his history that would inflict the maximum damage to his friends. Dare he cross that unforgivable line? 

"You dare question me?" The old Kaldur, the one who was the leader but one who listened to his friends and valued their opinions, would have never said that. "After all of you let Tula die?" He really only blamed himself for her death at this point. 

Kaldur drew out his water swords as he said this, hating the pained looks that remark had put on Orin and Superboy's faces. What would happen next was the question. Would Superboy attack? Or would this already too long conversation continue, leaving precious little time for everyone to escape the bomb? Nightwing flipped down from the upper level, interrupting Kaldur's thoughts. Kaldur couldn't tell if that relieved him or made him sadder. 

"Kaldur, Aquagirl knew the risks. No one wanted..." To anyone listening, it would have sounded like a former teammate defending his faulty actions, but Kaldur knew it was a warning to anyone who knew the truth. Kaldur had signed up for this, it was his idea. Going back from this mission with it incomplete was akin to coming back from death-impossible. Or perhaps that was just Kaldur projecting his views onto Nightwing's words. 

He wondered when cheerful Robin had grown up to be this serious leader. Kaldur had no idea how to respond to Nightwing until La'gaan interrupted Nightwing. "Neptune's beard! Don't coddle this traitor. He has joined forces with our king's greatest enemy!" 

La'gaan always was a passionate one, quick to anger. The exact opposite of Kaldur, but perhaps that was why Orin had picked La'gann. That was a thought that hurt- Orin had picked the opposite of Kaldur as his protégée to get the opposite results as Kaldur. It was time to drive the stake deeper into his king's heart. Kaldur had never hated himself more. 

"Do you mean the king who hid from me the true identity of my father?" 

Kaldur had been shocked, but never truly hurt. He understood what King Orin had been thinking and anyways, King Orin and Cal had been his true father figures. All the hurt he had shown was naught but a carefully crafted act born of a split second plan when he was told of his true parentage. When Orin had confessed, Kaldur already had concocted a plan to infiltrate the Light. It had just been a matter of deciding to truly commit to it. 

"That was my error in judgement Kaldur'ahm. No one else need suffer for it." Orin uttered solemnly. 

That sentence pained Kaldur to his core. His king was shouldering the unnecessary burden by himself and Kaldur could see his betrayal had cut Orin more deeply than Kaldur ever could have imagined. It was not a comforting thought. A noise sounded in his suit, reminding Kaldur that there were only a few minutes left to escape. This conversation needed to be over now. 

"All will suffer if Black Manta demands it. Blood is thicker than sea water." Did that sound loyal enough? Would anyone catch the double meaning in the threat? That blood of the covenant was thicker than the water of the womb? That his loyalty would always be with his friends and the heroes? Maybe Superboy would, he hoped Superboy would.

Kaldur shot out a missile from his suit towards his friends and hightailed it to the bomb tunnel through the smoke. He would have a chance to meet up with Nightwing before the explosion. Hopefully Nightwing caught on to what he was doing. As he slid down the tunnel, Nightwing was already there. 

"Kaldur." Even down here alone, the two of them had to take precautions. It would still look like a former friend trying to reason with a traitor rather than a meeting to pass on information. 

Kaldur couldn't be sure if any of the team would follow Nightwing so he got into a fighting stance and snarled "Just you and me, old friend?" 

How he hated using words like that. The double edged words that made him seem like a hate filled former member trying to inflict as much damage as possible of his team, but at the same time conveyed his true feelings. As much as the words pained him, Kaldur couldn't deny that they were scarily effective. Hopefully no one would come so he could speak plainly and truthfully. 

That hope was shattered when he heard an angry remark of "No, it's a regular reunion special!"

Superboy was sliding onto the ground looking like he was itching for a fight. Turns out Kaldur wasn't the only one who had adapted the former Boy Wonder's tricks from when they were kids. Now things were even more complicated than they had been. Kaldur had to make this look good while still letting Nightwing know about the bomb. He dropped his water sword, putting the sheaths in the pack in a calculated act of false surrender. 

"Fine. You can take me down," that sounded like classic villain hubris, right? "Or you can save everyone from this bomb. I am told the yield is quite impressive." There, they knew about the bomb at least, through the classic villain ultimatum. 

Kaldur had wanted to tell Dick about the mysterious partners but that had to wait until later. With a primal scream of fury, Superboy ran at Kaldur. Kaldur knew exactly how to beat Superboy thanks to years of countless sparring matches and vice versa, but Kaldur had always held back to some slight degree. He had never had fully beaten Superboy up like he would a villain and with dirty tactics. Now he had to, and with brutality. Kaldur swung his armored fist at Superboy, who had reverted back to his early days and became a hot-headed beast, hitting him on the throat. The force knocked Conner to the ground and Kaldur grabbed Conner's throat and shocked him with enough electricity to kill a bear. It was almost too easy when Superboy was in that state. Kaldur hadn't shocked Superboy with electricity since their first meeting at Cadmus. Now their roles were reversed-Kaldur was the villain and Conner the hero, and Kaldur was the one wearing a uniform given to him by the villain. He briefly wondered if Conner would think of that fateful encounter and the similarities. 

"You have two minutes." Kaldur told Nightwing with a pointed glare as the crackling blue electricity illuminated the scene menacingly before diving into the water. He hoped that sounded like an ominous threat rather than a desperate warning. It was one thing to fight the team personally where he could intervene in the fight, but there was no way Kaldur could save his friends from a bombs besides warning them and hoping they made it out safely. The bomb would require an investigation at some other time when the team wasn't under the threat of an explosion. Kaldur didn't know of any singular bomb that the Light possessed that could blow up an island with one go. That indicated alien technology which he had suspected and that definitely needed to be looked into as well as the mysterious partner who might just be an alien. One more thing for him to alert Nightwing about. 

Hopefully today's encounter would get him closer up the ladder to the Light and let him figure out what was the master plan. It was hard playing the traitor. This was not how he expected the confrontation to go. It hurt much more than he had ever imagined Kaldur thought to himself as he hitched a hand on his submarine, the magnets clicking into place. It was the first fight out of an inevitable many and already Kaldur could tell that he had made a rift that he would never be able to fully come back from. His team, his friends would never fully forgive him for this. He would forever be marred in their eyes. What would Superboy and La'gaan, even Nightwing tell the team? That he was a bitter villain now? A sudden yet not wholly unexpected blast shook him from his thoughts, nearly throwing him from the submarine. It was an ominous sign of what was to come. The end of an era, thought


End file.
